Crimson Frost
by Angelic Puppy
Summary: Sequel to Blood Fire. After defeating the Darraki, Shadow finds himself battling a different enemy. The Angel of Death seeks his life and throws danger at him left and right. How can he protect himself from a demon and will he pay the ultimate price?
1. Prologue

AngelicPuppy: Welcome back my lovelies! I have finally gotten around to starting the sequel to Blood Fire. I have decided to make it a trilogy, this is the second installment. My sister, Mirror the Fox, will also be doing the sequel to the parallel story Blood Autumn. Technically all six installments will be part of the Memories of Blood series as I have so deemed them. Now, enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, and the other Sonic the Hedgehog characters belong to SEGA. Mari, Karo and his alien race the Darraki belong to me. Mirror the Fox shares the right to use my characters in her parallel story.

The sun managed to peek through my heavy curtains, shining on my face. I had been watching the slow increase in light for hours, having gotten no sleep. I was at Sonic and Amy's house where I'd been for the last month. My apartment building had been destroyed in Clarostra's invasion and there was still a lot of cleanup and rebuilding to do. I never slept well here for more than a few days, it just wasn't my space. That and it was annoying to listen to Amy and Sonic having sex, or be woken by Tails or Karo.

Speaking of the little dragon, he was curled in my bed along with Cream. She had a nightmare, and being her favorite person for reasons unknown to me, she was only too happy to find me still awake last night. Karo often followed her or Tails, though make no mistake he loved to follow me too. Just perfect for an impatient social outcast with anger issues and a need for silence, children. Who love you.

I took a deep breath and sighed heavily before sitting up. I had been awake since four am and it was now seven. And I likely wouldn't sleep until midnight or later, like I had last night. Someone knocked gently on the door.

"Shadow, it's Tails, can I come in?"

He opened the door without my answer, knowing I'd say ok anyway. The poor fox looked haggard, like he barely slept last night. His tiredness showed so clearly on his face it was obvious he'd had some sort of nightmare. My ears flattened in worry, Tails and Cream had been having a lot of nightmares since I came to the house. For a while after the invasion I stayed on Angel Island with Knuckles and Rouge, but eventually I came here because Amy wanted to make sure I wasn't isolating myself. Knuckles and Rouge agreed with her and since then I've been here.

"Had a nightmare again squirt?"

Tails nodded his head and came to hug me. I held him and gently rubbed his head, the exact same thing I did with Cream a few hours earlier during the night. I sighed, I was doing a lot of sighing already and the day had just started.

"What was your dream about Tails?"

"Someone died. I don't know who, it wasn't me, but I watched them drown. And people were standing around laughing like it was funny that he was choking and screaming for help. And I couldn't help, a woman had my tails and I couldn't get away to help. She was laughing the loudest"

I rubbed his head again and put him in my bed with Karo and Cream. I had read that being in a different room can help keep nightmares at bay, good heavens I was getting so soft that I was reading books on parenting. Where had I even _gotten_ that book? I sat on the bed to think and wait for Tails to fall asleep. Of course, he just lay down and stared at me while I thought. Could the woman in his dream be Death? But why would she be terrorizing him? And who was it that he saw drowning? It couldn't have been me, I can swim as can Knuckles, then again I guess it could be me.

"What do you think it means Shadow? I've never had a dream like that before."

"I'm not sure what to tell you, I'm just as confused as you are."

"No you aren't."

I stared at him, his face was almost angry, clearly in disbelief that I knew nothing. "Excuse me?"

"You're not confused. You have a very good idea of what's going on don't you? You always do, everyone knows a lot more goes on in your head than what you say."

"I am not sure what is happening. That was not a lie. And I am confused, because I _don't_ know what it means. I have an idea sure, but why tell you if I can't figure out if it's true or why I even have the idea?"

"You always say that, until it all comes out to everyone else, and then you tell us your insights. I may be young, but I'm not stupid."

"No one said you were stupid Tails."

"Then tell me what the hell is wrong with me that I'm having death nightmares."

I glared at him and he glared back. He was getting bold and disrespectful, and he ought to know that's something I don't tolerate.

"I will tell you this just once Miles, you mind your tongue. I am not Sonic that you can simply say whatever you want and demand things from me. I am not Amy that I will not hit you as discipline, and I am not under any obligation whatsoever to answer you or tell you anything. I am not under obligation to tell _anyone_ anything until I so please. You have no power or right to demand anything from me and I do not appreciate this disrespectful speech. I am not one of your peers and it is not your place to call me out on my tendency to hold back."

I got up from the bed and grabbed Tails by the scruff to accentuate my point and because I was angry now. "You listen good Miles. I do not like being called a liar, and I do not like being spoken to like you have done. Keep it up and I _will_ smack you, I am the adult here, not you. By what right do you think you can command me? You will not die from one bad dream and if you're so smart why don't you figure it out? I'm sure you can come up with an answer, or a sincere apology and a change of attitude. Whichever is first, just let me know."

I dropped him back on the bed and left, using a huge amount of willpower to not slam the door and wake Cream and Karo. I took a large breath and let it out in a rush, I needed a run, like now. The window in the hallway was broken from the invasion a month ago and it let in a frigid morning breeze. Sonic must be on a run because it had been boarded up last night. It would take a while to repair the damage to the house, since few stores were still standing much less stocked. It wasn't very much damage since no one was home for the Darraki to attack and they hadn't broken much inside the house, but still.

A gust blew in and I shuddered. This just wasn't a good start to my morning, bad weather and bad dreams were never a good thing. I yawned long and hard, popping my jaw. I was gonna pay for not getting enough sleep the last couple of days, and probably dream when I finally got to sleep. I leaned against the wall and covered my face with my hands; I was utterly exhausted and wanted to be in my own bed, which no longer existed. I'd much rather be in the woods of Angel Island, asleep in the grass in darkness than in the bright room reserved for me.

I heard the sound of feet and grunting as presumably Sonic climbed through the window. "You ok Shadow?"

I lowered my hands and stared at him, watching his face go from mild concern to deep worry. Doubtless my weariness was plastered on my face.

"I'll be fine I guess. Angry at Tails, he gave me lip after waking from a nightmare. I've never heard him be so disrespectful."

Sonic nodded and glanced away in thought before looking back to me. We stared at each other for a while and his expression showed he was thinking whether he should ask me what else is wrong. He seemed to come to a decision because he spoke first.

"You want to talk about it?"

I shook my head, I couldn't talk about it right now, I was too tired and getting cold from the wind and just wanted to run and eat. He shrugged and went to his room, stopping just long enough to toss me a spare coat. I pulled it on and hopped out the window, hitting the ground running.

I ran for miles. I ran past people, cars, trucks, and miles of destruction and rebuilding. There were a few stray Darraki still hanging around to help clean up, courtesy of Lirias and the GUN Commander. I wasn't getting much warmer by running; the air was just cold today. It was dark and overcast, perhaps it would storm later. I hated this weather, winter is a horrid season.

I kept going until I was out of the city and in the forest, then up into the mountains. I had no idea why I was going this way; it would only be colder in the peaks, but I continued to run. Eventually I stopped on a ledge to a shallow cave. I could see the whole city from here, with only three tall buildings still standing, all of them hospitals. That was a good thing, all attention had gone to protecting them and it had paid off.

I shuddered as an icy wind blew under my jacket. I'd never been this cold before, but I was really feeling it today, perhaps it's still just weakness from the battle a month ago. I've never been in such a fight before, not to the degree it went. I stood on the ledge for a while, just staring at the city and into the distance. I'm not sure how long I stood there in a trance, but it was one hell of a shock to my brain when my cell phone rang. I jumped about four feet when it blasted some rock music. I didn't even know it was in my pocket.

"Hello?" I answered the phone, my voice shaky. I breathed slowly to try and control myself.

"Shadow? Where are you? Are you ok?" Amy asked on the other end.

"Umm, I'm out, I needed a run this morning. I'm ok, the phone ringing just scared me, I didn't know I had it."

Amy sighed and I could imagine her shaking her head. She was probably the one who made sure the phone was in my jacket and left it by the bedroom door so Sonic could give it to me. "Well, are you hungry? I'm making breakfast now. Your usual toast and eggs or something else?"

"The usual is fine I guess, maybe something warm too, like cream of wheat or oatmeal."

"Ok, do you want cheese in your eggs?"

"Sure why not?"

"Coffee?"

"No, not right now, tea maybe."

"Ok." She became silent for a moment, another person weighing how likely I'd be to answer a question truthfully. I rarely lied, but oh did I know how to dance around an answer and often just outright told people to leave me alone.

"Did you sleep last night Shadow?"

"A few hours."

"Be specific."

I sighed, rubbing my nose with my thumb and finger. "Three hours? I've been up since four, went to bed around one."

"Shadow…"

"What do you want from me Amy? I don't know why I can't sleep. I just can't when I'm in your house too long. It's too bright, there's too many people…"

"I know Shadow, I know. I wish you'd tell me this stuff though so I could figure something out instead of listening to you wander the halls like a lost soul."

I shook my head and laughed, she was always telling me to stop roaming at night. A lost soul, I've been one of those for a while now. "I'll be home in a few minutes, so I'm hanging up."

"Ok, Tails wants to talk to you and Karo wants a hug or something. Cream is still asleep so come in the house quietly. And use the door, stop unboarding that window, it's cold outside."

"Yeah I know, bye."

She hung up and I put the phone in my pocket. I breathed in the cold air, finding it terribly refreshing even as it stung my lungs. Then I took off for the house. It didn't take me long to get home, I was going fast and taking any shortcut I knew. Amy was waiting for me at the door. She looked tired too. Was no one getting enough sleep?

She waved at me to hurry up. "Come on, before your food gets cold. Then I want you to sleep, I don't care where, but you need rest."

"I'm fine Amy." I said, moving past her into the warm house. The change of temperature made me shiver and my spines bristle.

"You're always fine Shadow." She said, brushing past me and shooting me a dirty look. "You're always perfectly fine, until you aren't. You look like a wreck."

Everyone seemed to be a tad cranky this morning. I shook my head, looking in the living room mirror as we passed it where it hung on the wall. "I don't look like a wreck, and if I do it's from taking a run straight out of bed."

"You don't look like a wreck to _you_, but to your friends and family who know you so well, you look a mess." Sonic said, getting up from his chair and stretching. I hadn't even seen him there, why was he sitting in the livingroom with the tv off? Sonic was never one to enjoy sitting in silence.

"To me, everyone looks a mess. Are any of us actually sleeping?" I said, throwing my hands up. While I was genuinely concerned, I wanted the attention off of me. It would only lead to questions and I didn't want to answer them.

"No, not really. It's like it's been sucked away, Sonic got up four times to run last night. I'm sure you heard him at least once. I know Cream can only sleep in your room or ours and I just toss and turn. Especially if she's in there, I don't want her to have another nightmare." Amy shook her head and sighed.

"Me not sleeping well either. Scary dreams about my planet, I see fires burning forests." Karo chirped quietly from the stairs.

"I am not sleeping well either, I am having scary dreams about my planet and I see fires burning the forests. That's how you say it." Amy said, reaching through the banister to scratch Karo's ears. He made an almost purring sound, his sign that he understood.

"Shadow knows something about it. He just doesn't want to sound strange or whatever." Tails said. I had to look for him, he was sitting at the top of the stairs, head in his hands, looking angry and ragged. I noticed his ears were flat against his head.

"We already talked about this Tails. We all know Shadow and he will tell us when he's damn well ready. How would you like it if someone tried to pry something from you? Just like you treasure and protect your experiments and hesitate to explain the stranger or more confusing ones, so Shadow does with his thoughts. You still need to apologize." Sonic snapped. Tails' expression remained angry and aloof and he stayed silent.

So, everyone knew I had something to say about this situation. Everyone was aware that I had an idea why we were all losing sleep and dreaming of death. Everyone knew I held my thoughts back _all the time. _Guess I wasn't as unreadable as I thought. I rubbed my face with both hands, unsure what to do at this point.

"Come on, all of you need to eat, then we'll do something to figure out how all of us can sleep." Amy said. She sounded exhausted and slightly exasperated. I couldn't blame her, surrounded by a bunch of boys all of them tired and emotional and a little girl she couldn't confide in. I'd bet my life Rouge would be here by the end of the day if not sooner.

We ate in silence; or rather Cream, Sonic, and Karo ate. Amy sat watching us, her plate left to get cold. Tails pushed his food around sulkily, drinking some juice here, nibbling there. I had no appetite and let my chin rest on my hand as I stared into space. I couldn't get my brain to agree to much else besides staring at the wall and glancing at everyone else. I heard the doorbell, and then the door as Rouge came in, her keys jingling. It sounded like Knuckles was with her, which was confirmed when they both called hello to announce themselves.

"Damn, I don't think I've ever heard it dead silent in here. What's going on?" Rouge asked as she came into the kitchen."

"Shadow isn't telling us anything." Tails said sullenly. He seemed determined to find someone who would sympathize.

"Shut it Tails, stop causing trouble." Sonic said sharply as he crunched on bacon.

Rouge gave me one of her looks, it was sympathetic because she knew how hard it was for me to share my thoughts, but it was also reprimanding as if saying "now why are you doing that?" Amy simply sighed and rubbed her temples, tired of refereeing. Knuckles went to hug her and gave Karo an affectionate nudge with his foot. Karo growled like a baby alligator, a cute and happy sound of a future predator.

Rouge put her hand on my head, scratching gently before she spoke. "So, what exactly is going on here?"

I pressed my forehead to the table, nearly into my cold food and breathed deeply to clear my head. What exactly _was_ going on here? I knew it had everything to do with the dream I had of Maria a month ago, after we had killed Clarostra. And I had a suspicion that it had everything to do with the future too. I myself hadn't had many dreams, I just wasn't sleeping enough. I felt Rouge scratching gently at my scalp, to get my attention and to make me relax I guess. I'd seen her do it with Sonic and Knuckles too; she and Amy were good people to have around. They just had a knack for dealing with emotional and violent males.

"Lirias mentioned a dream before he left. He didn't tell us what it was, but that it wasn't a good thing. Is that connected to all this?" Rouge asked.

I burst into nervous laughter, Rouge's power of observation was incredible, to the point that it often seemed she was reading minds. Sometimes I did wonder if she had the gift, but it was merely undeveloped.

"I'm going to take that as a yes. What was the dream about Shadow?"

My laughter died in my throat and I suddenly found myself fighting tears and trying not to choke on them. I only partially succeeded, tears seemed determined to stream down my face. I had to grit my teeth and could barely speak without my voice shaking or breaking. I managed to tell her about the dream, about Maria being Death in disguise and about Lirias' interpretation. Thankfully everyone stayed completely silent while I went on, a single question would have derailed me, I'm just that bad at talking.

"Why would Death look for Shadow?" Cream asked. It was a good question, but not easily answered.

"Cuz he nearly dies too much. It's like teasing a dog with bacon; eventually he'll try to bite you." Tails said calmly. I looked up at him without lifting my head from the table. He was resting his head on his arm, staring at me. I'd never thought Tails to be a cynic.

Cream was completely silent, everyone was, while Tails and I kept our eyes locked. "Cream, I think you should go upstairs, try to sleep, you can go in my room." I said, my eyes never leaving Tails' face.

She obeyed quickly and, after hesitating, Karo went with her. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on or if he wanted to know. I imagined he probably thought he wasn't _supposed_ to know, since he was close in age to Cream and who lets children in on adult conversations? Rouge sat down heavily and put her feet on the table; Knuckles shook his head and left the kitchen. He probably had many thoughts in his head, but he often did not like being in overly serious conversations, especially about death.

"Ok, so everyone is unable to sleep and everyone is dreaming about death?" Rouge asked.

"That's about right. Cream can sleep if she's in our room or Shadow's, but then we can't sleep for worry of her." Sonic said, scratching his ear.

Amy nodded, rubbing Sonic's shoulder. "And that's not to say we can sleep when she's _not_ in the room. Last night was the worst, I don't think anyone got more than four hours. I know Sonic didn't, he kept getting up to run. Shadow, well we all know Shadow loses sleep more easily than anyone."

"And Cream keeps going into his room, and Karo follows her, so we can bet he's not getting much sleep just due to that." Tails said, breaking our staring contest and gazing into his uneaten food.

I chuckled, "I haven't even been able to dream. I'm just not sleeping long enough."

Rouge pushed her hand into my fur again; rubbing and scratching in a way that helped me feel calmer. I was so exhausted; I could fall asleep at the table. Amy and Sonic kept talking to Rouge, explaining more of the situation while I drifted into a haze. It was warm in the gray mist, but I was lying down, still tired. My whole body felt heavy, like I was shackled with iron chains and my mind felt full of webs and water, heavy and unfocused.

A voice, sweet and melodious drifted through the fog. "Oh Shadow dear, won't you come here? I haven't seen you in a while, why don't you come play? You seem to love playing at my door…"

The voice seemed like Maria's only deeper, richer, and full of a cunning Maria never had. Was I so sleep deprived that I had gone straight into dream sleep from dozing at the table? The voice kept cooing, trying to entice me to get up and come find her, but I was so heavy and tired. And I was still at the table, if I got up to go to her, everyone would be wondering where I was headed to.

"Come play with me Shadow, come play with darling Maria. Don't you wish to see her again?"

I did want to see her again, but I was still at the table. The voice kept calling to me, and I heard Maria calling for me to come play. I started to sit up, it took such effort, but I managed it. I heard faraway voices, someone asking if I was alright. Was I alright? I started to shake my head no, then thought better of it and nodded yes. And then I felt a cool cloth against my face and the haze cleared. I was back in the kitchen as Amy wiped my face with a cold, wet rag.

"Are you ok Shadow?" She asked.

"I think I was dreaming." I slurred as though I'd been asleep for many hours.

"Well, go lay down then, you too Tails. Sleep in our room ok? Shadow I think you should stay in the livingroom."

I grunted as she sat the cloth on my head and Tails trudged past me and up the stairs. I simply sat in my chair, too tired to make myself move or even really think about my dream. I did keep thinking about how this wasn't going to lay down in the livingroom.

"What did you dream Shadow?" Rouge asked.

"Hm?" I had only half heard her, too caught up in my looping thought of how I should really get up.

She repeated herself, always so patient.

"A fog, someone calling me to go play. Said if I came I'd see Maria." I said, leaning my head against the wall. If I didn't sleep soon I'd just pass out on the chair.

Someone grabbed me by the arm and half dragged me into the living room. I stumbled into the couch and saw who had grabbed me, Knuckles. I growled at him and he gave me the finger and sat in his chair. I huffed and lay down on my stomach. I closed my eyes, barely hearing the others talk and only fleetingly noticed a blanket being put over me. Finally, finally, I fell asleep.

AP: Alright people, here's the prologue for Crimson Frost, the second of the Memories of Blood series. I hope you all enjoyed it, I will be working on Chapter 1 quickly.


	2. Chapter 1

AP: Welcome back, here's chapter 1 of Crimson Frost!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic, Shadow, Tails, or any other SEGA characters. Mari, Karo, and his alien race the Darraki, do belong to me however.

I slept horribly. I had strange dreams the whole time, but they were so off and so many that when I woke up I didn't know what I had been dreaming about. I realized I was sweating and cold despite my blanket and my heart was racing. I could only remember blood and fighting from my dreams, but I wasn't the one bleeding. I was fighting sure, but not bleeding.

I looked around the livingroom and everyone was downstairs. Knuckles and Rouge sat together in his favorite chair watching tv with the volume low, Cream was snuggled between them still asleep. Amy and Sonic were asleep together on the couch, while Tails and Karo were on the floor watching tv. Knuckles was staring at me, keenly aware of the fact I was unsettled, Rouge only glanced at me, saying she saw it too. Sometimes I hated having them around, they noticed things even Sonic and Amy missed. I mean, it's not like I had jumped out of my skin when I woke up, I just sat up, completely silent and quietly freaking out.

Knuckles sighed and shook his head, giving me a look that said we'd talk later. I lay down, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Just one month, only a single month had gone by and already things were losing a sense of sanity. It was moments like these, and they were few and far between, where I wished I'd never been made. So many of this planet's recent problems were actually my fault simply because I was alive. And then the Darraki invaded and brought our short-lived peace to an end and we were still cleaning up, still rebuilding. Now our tired quiet was being attacked and we didn't even know how or why.

The only reason we even had electricity was because we had a generator that used chaos energy from the Emeralds, which made one less thing to worry about paying for or fighting over with the humans. The Darraki really did a number on the city and I couldn't help but think our city was like America in every alien movie they ever made. Always the worst hit, always the first or only country to be invaded. Speaking of things to be fought over, I was certain we needed food soon.

"Shadow?"

I sat up at the sound of my name to see Tails. He had an angry, but apologetic expression, his ears flat and twitching.

"Yes Tails?"

He looked away from me and spoke softly. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened earlier…"

All I could think was that this was the most insincere apology I'd ever heard from him. Besides not even looking at me, he wasn't even specific about what he was apologizing for. I got the feeling he was only saying sorry because he wanted something from me. He proved me right by what he said next.

"I want you to teach me how to fight."

That wasn't quite what I had expected, but it made sense in a way. I looked past him at Sonic's sleeping form and glanced at Knuckles who was watching carefully from the corners of his eyes. Rouge had snuggled down as if to sleep, she was petting Cream's ears gently.

"Why not ask Sonic?" I asked quietly.

"He would go too easy on me. I need someone who will actually train me, not play around half the time. Sonic wouldn't push me to my limit."

He underestimated Sonic, but that was his choice. "What about Knuckles?"

"Knuckles already agreed to help me build strength and speed and teach me to fight cooperatively. He and Rouge will also be focusing mainly on teaching Karo to fight and fly. I need to learn form, technique, and strategy. I can get that from you."

I shook my head, "why do you want to learn how to fight Tails?"

He glared at me as though I should be well aware of his reasoning. "Because I'm tired of always being on the sidelines, watching everyone else get hurt and put their lives on the line. I'm tired of being useless."

"You're not useless Tails."

"Aren't I?" y Tails shouted. The room fell to silence, with only the tv in the background. Sonic sat up to see what the problem was, confused at the sight of a fuming Tails.

"Aren't I useless? What exactly do I do besides run errands and recon? How helpful am I when it comes down to defending anything? What do I do besides fetch the Emeralds and rescue you all when you're hurt from protecting me?"

I could only stare at him silently, noticing his eyes were filling with tears. Clearly this was something he'd been thinking about for a while. I sighed and shook my head; there would be no way out of this, not without him hating me.

"Fine, I will teach you to fight."

Tails relaxed and shook his head. "I'm gonna go take a shower; I'd like to start today, if you don't mind."

I looked at the window, noticing the fading light. I'd slept most of the day away, but I was feeling well enough to do some training for him today. I shrugged and watched him walk up the stairs.

"What was that about?" Sonic asked.

"Tails wants to learn how to fight." I said.

"So he asked you? Well, I can understand that I guess, he probably thinks I won't be a good teacher."

"He underestimates you, but whatever. I'll teach him, but I'll make him regret it." I said, getting up to stretch.

"Shadow will teach Tails and Knuckles will teach Karo?" Karo asked.

The little dragon had grown in the last month, mainly in his wingspan. We'd been feeding him chaos-infused plants and it was doing wonders. We'd managed to contact Lirias and show him how Karo was growing, he was happy with it. "A little faster than normal, but I am pleased" the general had said. I nodded.

"Yes, Knuckles will teach you. Rouge will help you fly seeing as your wings are big enough now."

"Ok. Is Shadow feeling better? He isn't sleeping very well, no one is right?"

I sighed; Karo had picked up a bad habit of speaking mostly in third person. Trying to teach him proper English caused that. I didn't feel like correcting him to be less formal or answering his question. Instead I tugged on his ear, glanced at Knuckles and went outside. Karo followed me into the cold evening and watched me stretch. The wind blew harshly and I was drawn to the sound of rustling leaves and tiny waves. My weeping willow over the pond looked like a multi-armed skeleton without its leaves. It looked so lonely….

"Shadow, I'm ready when you are." Tails said from behind me.

"Give him a minute Tails." Knuckles said from behind me.

I glanced back at the two of them for a second before turning my attention back to the tree. It was not late enough in the year for all of its leaves to be gone and I took care of that tree, it couldn't be sick or infested with parasites. It was the only tree on the lawn, the only one on this side of the pond. The wind came back, howling across the lawn and setting my teeth on edge from the chill.

The branches of the tree swayed, and for a moment I thought I saw her, Maria, amongst the branches. She was staring at me, beckoning me over as she leaned against the trunk. But, I could tell it wasn't her, she didn't have on her usual blue dress, the dress she wore was white and her hair was too blond, almost white. And her eyes, I shouldn't be able to see her eyes from here, but they were crimson, like mine. _Come to me Shadow, come see your death_. I shook my head, hoping to clear the sight of her. Was I still so tired that I was hallucinating?

The girl smiled at me and I heard laughter in my head, it sounded like the voice in the dream I had at the kitchen table. _Are you afraid of me Shadow darling? Do you hate me for pretending to be your precious Maria? I take good care of her you know; she doesn't even know she's dead. Wouldn't you like to see her?_

"What's wrong Shadow?" Tails asked, coming to stand next to me.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, hoping that woman would just go away. _I can't go away Shadow. I am everywhere there is life._ I opened my eyes, looking straight down at the ground, afraid that if I looked up, I'd be staring into those eyes again.

"Shadow?" I felt Knuckles' strong grasp on my shoulder.

"It's nothing, just seeing ghosts."

"Mm, ghosts, scary shit huh? I bet it's by that willow." Knuckles said. Though his comment sounded like a joke, he was completely serious. There was some evidence that willows were full of energy and ghosts and spirits liked to be near them for that reason. It didn't help that I'd seen Death by the tree twice, once in dream and just now.

"Ghosts? We have ghosts? Wait…it's not a ghost is it? Is it that woman who keeps showing up in me and Cream's nightmares?"

I huffed, Death seemed to like showing up in the most inopportune places to put me on the spot. "Yes, it's Death. If she's pale with white-blond hair, red eyes, and a creepy yet beautiful voice, then yeah that's her."

"I thought she was supposed to be an angel?" Tails asked, clearly nervous.

"Death? Death is a nice spirit?" Karo said, making it as much a question as a statement.

"No one said angels are always nice and you both know spirits can be both nice and mean." I said, turning to face them. "Come on, it's time for training."

Knuckles and I trained them hard. By the time dinner was ready Tails and Karo were worn out, even Knuckles and I were sweating slightly. Tails had kept pushing for us to keep going, determined to be the best on the first day.

"Tails, you can't get strong in one day." I said a little breathlessly. This was way too early after a week of sleep deprivation to work so hard.

"I don't care, I'll work as hard as I possibly can every day until I'm stronger." He was so out of breath he couldn't even say it all at once.

Knuckles shook his head. "That won't do Tails. If you strain yourself every day then you'll just hurt yourself, not get stronger."

Tails glared at me, his eyes full of determination and rage. What had gotten in to this fox? I shook my head and backed away before turning to go into the house. I wasn't going to let him bait me, I wasn't going to get into a fight with this child. Dinner was just as quiet as breakfast, though not as tense, but there still wasn't very much eating going on.

"So, how did training go?" Sonic asked, braving the silence to make conversation.

"It seemed fine, Tails pushed himself hard. Karo did well too." I said, reaching to pet the little dragon next to me. He chirped at the praise and affection and I tossed him a bit of chicken.

"Shadow, he has his own chicken." Amy said, exasperated.

"So? He's growing, he'll be hungry in an hour anyway." I said with a shrug.

"Amy makes good chicken! Karo says thank you to Shadow." Karo said happily.

"Just say 'thank you Shadow.'" Rouge said from her place on the counter.

"Thank you Shadow, thank you Amy!" Karo squawked happily.

"You're welcome Karo." Amy said, nudging him under the table with her foot.

After that dinner went nicely, Rouge was able to keep a conversation going about fruit and Karo's soon to come flying lessons. I barely listened, but simply enjoyed the sense of normalcy and calm that had returned. Hopefully we'd all be able to sleep tonight despite our long naps.

I felt a hard nudge and turned to Knuckles, he nodded his head toward and got up, giving Sonic a "you too" look. Sonic and I looked at each, sighed and followed Knuckles into the living room and then out of the house to the porch.

"Does _anyone_ have any idea what the fuck is up with Tails?" Knuckles started as soon as the door shut behind us.

"Not a clue." Sonic shook his head and kicked at a pebble. "I'm hoping it was just crankiness from not getting enough sleep."

"No, no he is very serious about this training and very serious about whatever he's angry about." Knuckles said, folding his arms, still facing the lawn and the tree.

I had to look again and went to the railing to see the tree better. I wasn't hallucinating, it had leaves again even though just this evening it had been stripped bare like a many armed skeleton. I shook my head again, feeling Knuckles and Sonic watching me. Knuckles, as he had several times today, was watching carefully from the corner of his eyes, I could tell without looking that Sonic was merely looking on with curiosity.

"What's up Shads?"

I shook my head. I was already the crazy one, I already had strange dreams, I wasn't ready to admit that I'd hallucinated a dead tree with the angel of death hiding under it talking to me. I chose to go back to the topic at hand, namely Tails' behavior.

"I think he genuinely is angry at me for not telling everyone about my thoughts earlier. I'm not sure why, but he's taken this personally as though I'm trying to hurt everyone."

"But that's just absurd; you've never purposefully held back information, especially not with intent to harm us."

"Because we don't all know that Sonic." I said, knowing my comment came out sharper than necessary.

Knuckles yawned and stretched hard, making him grunt as several joints cracked. "So, what are you going to do about Hecate?"

"Who?" Sonic and I asked simultaneously.

"Hecate, one of the names of Death. She's the goddess of the underworld, or queen. Also known as Persephone, Helle, Izanami, among others depending on what mythology you look at."

"Oh, well what can we do about her? She's kinda a massively powerful spirit ya know." Sonic said, shrugging.

"I agree with Sonic, what can we do? She is the angel who ends life, even the life of stars and entire planets."

Knuckles put his hand to his chin, looking thoughtful. "Well, there's said to be ways to get her away if you've caught her fancy before it's your time to die. I'd have to go look though, maybe I can find something in the records on the Island…"

"Oh come on, is Shadow really such a catch amongst billions and billions of living things in the universe? No offense Blackie."

"None taken, but I have no answer for you. Apparently I am, but I couldn't tell you why."

"Well, we'll have to let it drop for the night, we need not draw the angel's attention by talking of her. Besides, I need to start my research on Angel Island, and the rest of you need more sleep."

"Yeah, good luck with that." Sonic said tiredly. I wondered if he'd had nightmares too.

"You know Knuckles, you don't have to get involved in this. I know you have more reasons to dislike dealing with Death than the rest of us." I said, placing my hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged me off, "please Shadow, it's not like I saw any of my race die. Not in such a violent way as Maria, I have lost a lot but you have much more pain than I do. It is not so serious for me that I cannot help my friends."

I shook my head, lowering my ears. How did I deserve such a family and constantly endanger them or make life difficult? I suddenly felt tired, even after the Black Arms invaded I hadn't been so worn. Too close to death with the Darraki I guess, closer than I had ever been with the Black Arms. Hopefully with them as our allies now we could worry less about being invaded by other beings. Why did they choose here anyway?

"Well, I'm gonna take Rouge and head off to the Island, Cream, Karo and Tails are supposed to be coming with us right?"

"Why are they going there?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, that's right, you were asleep when we discussed that. We're going to at least take Cream and Karo with us in hope they can sleep without nightmares."

"I think Tails really should go with you for a night, fresh air, a good night's sleep, good quiet instead of the silence of the city in rebuilding stage. I think it could make him feel better, besides, then you don't have to go back and forth for his training." Sonic said.

I liked the idea and opened the door to go into the house. "I'll go tell everyone to pack bags and get ready to leave."

"I'll stay out here and wait." Knuckles said, going back to gazing at the lawn.

I went inside to find Cream and Tails sitting on the couch, bags next to them. Karo was sitting on the steps, seeming to be waiting for someone. Rouge came in the livingroom from the kitchen.

"Figured Knuckles would want to leave whenever he was done talking to you and Sonic, so I had them pack things. Amy is packing a bag for Karo, I'm not sure why, it's not like he wears clothes."

"Probably his toys, he has some dog toys and a stuffed animal he sleeps with. Maybe his blanket too."

"Yeah, my blanket. I like my blanket, it's warm, it tears under Karo's nails though."

"It's ok to say 'my nails' Karo. They are yours, we know who you are, you don't have to say your name all the time." Tails said from his place on the couch. I noticed he was looking at me from the corners of his eyes, but he looked away when I met his gaze.

Amy came down the stairs with a small bag, which she tossed at Karo, causing him to squeal and roll down the steps completely unharmed. I chuckled at the little dragon, he was so adorable, just a baby. One day he'd be a strong and intelligent hunter, just like his father. Would he one day lead an army to conquer planets or would he be a pacifist? Would he be a jock, an intellectual, a politician? How much influence would we have on him as a child?

"Come on Rouge, I'm ready to go." Knuckles called from outside as Sonic came through the door.

"Alright darlings, time to skedaddle." Rouge said, waving the kids up and out the door. Cream hugged me on the way past, Karo rubbed his head against my hand and I scratched under his horns. Tails didn't so much as look at me and made an effort not to even touch me. Clearly I was, in fact, his problem.

Rouge hugged me tightly and wished Amy, Sonic and I goodnight before shutting the door behind her. We all stood around watching the door for a few minutes before looking at each other, all of us tired, none of us looking forward to being in the house. I flattened my ears against my head, and just went upstairs. What was there to say?

"Goodnight Shadow." Sonic called after me.

"Goodnight both of you." I said, going into my room and shutting my door. The room was almost completely dark, a sliver of moonlight peeking through my drapes. No matter what I did they always let it just a little light, but always enough to disturb my sleep. Honestly, the light of the moon made the room look creepy and quite ghostly since the walls were pale blue and the furniture was dark. Great, just what I needed when I was being hunted by the death goddess herself, a ghost room.

I flopped on my bed, burying my face in my pillow. I could feel tears building behind my eyes. This was not becoming of the ultimate life form, in fact, it was rather pathetic. Can fight off two alien invasions, one of which was led by a giant dragon with acid spit that eats stars, but is afraid of his own dreams. And cries about it. I was really pathetic. I climbed under my covers, making sure I faced away from the bright moonlight and hoped I would sleep decently.

_This dream was not comforting at all. It had to be one of those lucid dreams, where you know you're dreaming, but I've never found them to be particularly fun. This dream was full of fog, just like the one I had while dozing at the kitchen table. The mist was not extremely thick; I could see the outlines of trees and people in the distance. The park perhaps?_

_I heard gentle laughter. "A park Shadow? That's the best your imagination can come up with?"_

_The voice was familiar, and though it was gentle and beautiful, it was chilling. Hecate. She laughed again, pleased that I'd identified her and was frightened. _

_That cold, gentle voice drifted through the mist again. "Try again, this is no park."_

"_A garden?" I said nervously. Something told me it would be in my best interest to answer her questions._

"_That's closer, and a wise thought you have."_

_Great, she could hear my thoughts._

"_Oh come now Shadow. I am a spirit and you are in dream world, why should I not be able to see into your mind if I am inside it?" _

_The fog cleared in front of me and I saw her. Hecate sat in an ornate dark wood chair, a throne. She was taller than I expected, I guess because she had been masquerading as Maria. She was beautiful, with nearly white hair and pretty pale skin. She was shapely and dressed in a black and crimson ball gown; it had a tight laced bodice with tasteful frills on the open shoulders and the ends of her long sleeves. On her feet were knee-high boots that I can only call dominatrix style and they were also black and red. And of course those eyes, those glowing crimson eyes. I couldn't help thinking how much I resembled her and wondered if she'd done it on purpose._

"_So you find me beautiful? Most see me as a wretched thing, because most think of death as horrid. Yet, you see me as beautiful; do you think death is a beautiful thing?"_

"_I see it as necessary, but I do not believe it to be beautiful." I had to close my eyes, those burning orbs as beautiful as lit rubies were too much to look at. They were filled with hate as well as desire, lustful, hungry._

"_Do you fear me Shadow? Are you afraid of Death?" I felt Hecate's icy hand grab my chin. I closed my eyes tighter, if I opened them her face, her eyes would be there._

_She was so close I could feel her breath like ice on a summer day. "Well? Does your heart tremble when I touch you? Do you fear the touch of my breath?"_

_I breathed deeply and let it out shakily. "Yes."_

_Hecate shoved me suddenly and laughed. It was so joyous, but it froze my blood. A terrible woman this was. I opened my eyes to stare at the ground, or rather the fog that hid my feet. Hecate stopped laughing abruptly and I was suddenly off the ground and in her face with her hands painfully holding me by my quills._

"_I am not a terrible woman Shadow. I am a wonderful one. Maria is in no pain here, all those dead people from your father's invasion and from the Darraki's invasion are no longer in pain." Father? She must mean Black Doom. "Even the dead Darraki, the ones you killed, they are here too. I take good care of the dead."_

_She stroked my face tenderly, even as she gripped my quills so hard I felt they would come out in her hand. That tender touch sent my heart racing as she stared into my eyes, crimson to crimson, ruby to garnet. I almost felt like she was sucking life from me, as though she were trying to take me out of my body with her eyes, and maybe she was._

"_And one day, and I will cherish that day, I will get to take care of you too."_

_Then she let go of me._

I practically jumped out of my skin when I woke up. My heart was racing and I was shivering hard enough that my teeth chattered, but I was sweaty, enough that my fur was slick in some places and sticking up in little spikes in others. My blankets were everywhere, I had tossed all night. Now that I was looking around, I wasn't even at the head of my bed.

I curled up into a ball and tried to slow my breathing and heart rate. That was a disturbing dream and I'd had plenty of disturbing dreams. I had to have lain there curled up like that for an hour at least before I could claim I wasn't freezing cold and had a normal heart rate. When I got out of bed I was still shaking, but I managed to get to the bathroom and take a shower almost scalding hot. It stung, but I couldn't bear the thought of any cold. I was still cold when I was finished.

I sat in the bathroom for a while, my towel over my head until the steam cleared and it started to get cold again. Someone knocked on the door softly, clearly to avoid startling me. I shook my head, my family did so much to accommodate my issues. I tried to answer but found I really couldn't, not even to mouth the words. I sighed heavily; this was a hard day ahead of me already.

"You ok Shadow?" Amy's voice barely carried through the door she was speaking so quietly. She had to have seen my room to be pushing my hearing to the limit.

I grunted a little before managing a yes and opened the door. She was in a robe and looked a lot better than she had yesterday.

"Good morning." I said hoarsely, managing a weak smile.

She smiled back at me gently, but looked down the hall at my room. I sort of looked, mainly at the door jamb. She turned back with a questioning brow. I shook my head, there was no way I could tell her that dream if I could barely say good morning. It occurred to me then that I was warm now and no longer shaking.

"You look a little better this morning, though it's obvious you didn't exactly sleep well." Amy said, looking me up and down.

I shrugged, I still couldn't quite get myself to speak yet.

"Mari will be over today, her housing situation is getting complicated. I'd rather send her to Angel Island, since our house seems to be haunted and I know you two don't exactly get along, but she needs a place and doesn't want to be in the jungle."

I gave a snort of laughter, "I can't say I blame her." My voice was still hoarse.

"Do you mind Shadow?"

I looked down at her tired face. Her eyes were completely neutral, if I said no she'd make Mari go to Angel Island and wouldn't be angry about it. I shook my head, "no Amy, I don't mind."

Amy let out a big breath, "good. Please try not to fight ok?"

She went back to her room and I went to mine to get dressed and straighten up. I tried not to think of my dream, of Hecate's cold touch or those hungry red eyes, or that fog-filled garden. I got the feeling it was only like that because I was alive and the living aren't really supposed to know what it looks like. The thought made me shudder and I began to feel cold again.


	3. Chapter 2

AP: Hey, AngelicPuppy here, hoping you're all enjoying the start of Crimson Frost and the relative quickness of updates as opposed to how I did Blood Fire XD

Shadow: What the hell is going on here? You just love putting me in these weird storylines of yours don't you?

AP: Shadow, you're one of the best characters for this weird stuff, so shush. Do the disclaimer please.

Shadow: AngelicPuppy does not own me or the rest of my crew, we belong to SEGA. Mari, Karo, and his alien race the Darraki do belong to her however.

* * *

"You look terrible Shadow."

I looked up from my book to be greeted by Mari's smug, slightly annoyed expression. She had gotten here in the early afternoon and had somehow managed to get bread and milk for us. I still remembered the outburst from the hospital a month ago and the longer I stared at those green eyes the softer her expression became.

"What are you reading?" She asked, looking down at my book and squinting at the words. Honestly, her expression seemed sad, like she expected something bad to happen.

"A psychology book." I answered.

She gave me this curious and disbelieving look. "What? I can't enjoy the sciences?"

"It's not that, I guess I should be giving that look if Sonic was reading it. But I guess I didn't really peg you as a sit down and read type."

"Why, because I run like Sonic?"

"Because it would interrupt your brooding." She didn't say it insultingly, but my ears twitched at the comment nonetheless.

"I'm not always brooding. Deep thought and brooding are very different things."

Mari laughed a little. "You should see your expression sometimes when you're 'thinking deeply.'"

I smirked. "I'm sure I look like I'm coming up with a plan to kill everyone sometimes."

Mari sat next to me to get a closer look at my book. "So, how have you been since you nearly died?"

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

She sighed and looked up at me. "Total annihilation of your city and way of life, being witness to thousands of deaths, either makes a person cynical or kind. I'm sure you know that."

I shook my head, death was not what I wanted to talk about right now. I felt a nudge in my ribs and I turned back to Mari.

"So, you never answered my question."

I chuckled a little, "not really all that great."

"No? Why not? Having trouble with people?"

That was a strange question, I had to ask what she meant by it.

"Well, you've got a house, electricity, food. I'm surprised the government hasn't tried to seize Angel Island or at least force Knuckles to let them on it to strip resources."

"That's because they know better than to try and force Knuckles to do anything, much less ransack Angel Island. He's always been determined that Angel Island would be protected and never become anything like the rest of Earth. He won't have his Island overrun, dirty, and choked."

"Ah, but that doesn't answer the question. You're pretty good at that, making it seem as though you've answered when you really did nothing but divert attention."

"You catch on quickly."

"So, the question?"

I sighed, not really wanting to answer the question because she'd only be more specific with the next question. Sonic saved me by coming in the house from a run. He looked so much better than yesterday, as if my finally sleeping enough for my own nightmare had allowed everyone else to get rested. I wondered how Tails was feeling and if Cream would have too many long-winded stories when she got back.

"Hey, look who's being nice to each other!" Sonic said happily. He was definitely feeling better if he could prod like that.

"Fuck you Sonic, I am always civil." I said tartly, going back to reading.

"Oh yes, that's sooo civil." Mari said, flicking at my ear. I waved at her to get her to stop. No one needed to know I was ticklish.

"For him, it is, you should hear Knuckles' 'civil', that's a real riot there." Sonic said.

It more or less was a legit riot. Knuckles could be pretty violent and short-tempered, we surmised those were the days he didn't get any from Rouge.

Mari turned back to me and tugged on my ear. "So, Shadow, the question?"

I groaned, she wasn't the least bit distracted. "Just Tails, he's been having an attitude problem."

"Attitude?"

"Yeah, he's angry at me for some reason, like really enraged. He's even determined to get training so he can be in fights with us. I don't know what's wrong really." I said, thinking about what could be wrong, that he's become insulted with my tendency to hold my thoughts and avoid questions. I couldn't help it, I just had a hard time answering questions, half the time I didn't even realize I was doing it until someone pointed it out or asked the same question three different ways.

"Did you know you look at the ceiling or your feet when you're thinking and talking at the same time?"

I looked back at her startled, suddenly aware that I _had_ been looking at the ceiling. She laughed and clapped her hands, clearly pleased that she was figuring me out so quickly. It annoyed me that she was having fun with this. She was taking advantage of my family's hard work getting past what Sonic had named "the ninja wall", basically my ability and need to hide everything from everyone. Now all my little habits and quirks were easily visible, but few people knew what most of them were or meant because my ninja wall went up when I was in public. But I was home, so she could see right through me.

"Mari, stop laughing at him. You're making him feel exposed and taken advantage of." Sonic said, leaning over the back of the couch.

She stopped laughing and gave Sonic, then me a concerned look. It hadn't occurred to her that it had taken a long time for me to be so open and easy to read and that I'd be insulted that she could do it. She gave a small bow to me.

"I'm sorry Shadow. I didn't mean to insult you."

I shook my head, the only answer I could give without it being angry and mean. I put my book down and got up to stretch. I could use a run, but instead I went into the kitchen to get something to drink. I really should have gone to my room, then I'd be away from her and everyone else. I felt a poke between my quills, it sent a shiver up my spine and made me jump. I turned to see Mari, who was holding my book out.

"Lucid dreaming?" She asked, looking down at the book then back up to me.

"Trying to make me feel better with a change of subject?" I asked.

Mari smiled at me. "Something like that."

I sighed and rubbed the bridge of my nose. I was being too sensitive, but I guess that was the whole reason I had a "ninja wall" in the first place. "Well, I have those types of dreams a lot."

She looked back down at the book, then back to me again. "Really? That must be cool, you could go wherever you want in your dreams."

I shook my head, "not really all that cool. Just because I know I'm dreaming doesn't mean I can control the dream. Most of the time when I know I'm dreaming, I also know it's a nightmare."

That made her frown, her ears going flat. "And how often do you have nightmares?"

"Recently or overall?"

That got an annoyed look. "Let's go with recently."

"Well, the last week I barely slept enough to dream."

"That's terrible Shadow, what on earth are you dreaming about?" Mari said, one hand on her hip, the other still holding the book.

I sighed and chuckled simultaneously, rubbing my ear. "Don't worry about it ok? Please just leave it alone."

She gave me a suspicious expression, clearly deciding whether or not to push further, but Sonic leapt to my rescue. "Hey, Mari, wanna see Tails' lab? It's right downstairs, I promise Tails wouldn't mind."

"Wait, what? Lab? Shadow and I were talking, I don't want to see Tails' lab." Mari protested as Sonic dragged her away.

"Well, how about Cream's little play area in the backyard? Shadow, Knuckles and I put that together for her, we even added stuff a couple months ago. It's quite sweet really."

Mari looked back at me as Sonic pulled her through the back door. I took a huge breath in relief, eventually she'd understand but until then I was glad Sonic was nearby to get her to stop prying. I shook my head, maybe eventually I would stop having such issues and be normal and not need to be rescued. I quickly made my way upstairs, not sure what I was going to do. Mari would be back with more questions, that's just how she was, but I wasn't prepared to relive my nightmares yet.

I went to my room to lie down, hoping I wouldn't have a nightmare if I took a nap. My room was clean; Amy must have done it before she left when Mari got here. I sighed, she always did stuff like this, and I was perfectly capable of cleaning my own room. There was no point in trying to fight her about it. I lay down in my bed, trying to relax despite how bright my room was.

_This dream was starting out nicely. I was in a quiet park, sitting on a bench. There were other people around me, always a good sign, though they were out of focus. On the park toys were children, playing tag and escaping down slides and the stairs from each other. I saw one little girl who looked a lot like Maria, but her dress was white and she had shorts on under it, and she was about four or five._

_She was having fun playing tag, but I quickly figured out why she had shorts on under her dress, she was rough. She pushed someone down the slide and followed after them, and pulled them to their feet forcefully, dragging the poor kid behind her to go again. I didn't think Maria had been that rough as a child, but then again I didn't exist when she was four._

_The kid she was "playing" with, was shorter than she was, but I got the feeling was the same age. He had black hair and blue eyes, but while her's were a typical blue, his were icy and bright. They reminded me of myself and Sonic, one always dragging the other around and being rough._

"_Maybe it's your past lives." A voice said with a laugh._

_As beautiful as her laugh was, it still chilled me. "Hello Hecate." I said calmly._

_She was dressed much differently than the last time I saw her. While before she had a dress of red and black, with a corset and lace and what can only be described as dominatrix boots, today she wore a loose dress that was white and blue with small, gentle ruffles and white sandals. I was curious where we were, before it was foggy and overcast and I could see nothing._

"_That's a terrible outfit to wear around small children." I said._

_Hecate laughed, this time it was bright and cheerful, not the least bit chilling or scary._

"_This isn't anywhere special Shadow, not like the other place. This place is for little kids, I've never really thought it mattered if adults saw it. It's not like they'll ever be here."_

_I looked around at the out of focus adults walking around the park. Even when one came close to stop the little girl from picking on her friend, they were still strangely out of focus. "What about those adults?"_

_Hecate laughed, this time it was gentle. "Oh Shadow, do you know nothing? Those are angels, why do you think you can't see their faces?"_

I woke up to a dark room, only a sliver of setting sun coming through the curtains. I had slept for a while, and actually had a nice dream, though I was curious what it really meant. What was Hecate trying to do, soften me up? Or was she just messing with me because she was twisted?

Mari peeked in my door, "You awake Shadow?"

"Yeah I'm up. Come on in."

She came in with a bowl of what looked to be ice cream. Chocolate ice cream, in fact, my favorite.

"Is that for me, or do you conveniently also like chocolate?"

Mari laughed, "while I do conveniently also like chocolate, this is for you. Amy went miles for some ice cream; I think she paid a lot for it too."

I took the bowl, grateful for something sweet, though I wasn't happy about the coldness of it.

"So, did you sleep well?" Mari asked, smoothing out a corner of my sheets.

"Well enough I guess, why do you ask?"

Mari shrugged, "Well why not ask?"

"Because you don't like me."

"Who said that?"

"You did."

"I never said I didn't like you. Just that you were annoying, 'cause, you know, you are."

I chuckled lightly. "Am I now? What's so annoying about me?"

Mari laughed next. "Well I could name all the things Sonic says are annoying. Anyway, dreams?"

"Never thrown off the trail are you? I didn't have a nightmare if that's what you're asking."

"What was your not-nightmare about?"

"I was in a park watching little kids playing. Two of them reminded me of Sonic and myself. I thought it was interesting, but I don't know what it means."

"Something tells me you're not being entirely truthful, but I'll leave you alone for now. Sonic tells me not to be so nosy and pushy with you. He says you'll tell me when you're ready." Mari said, scooping some ice cream with her finger.

"And not to take it personally, unless you're the GUN Commander. I know he told you that." I said, tempted to lick the ice cream from her finger, but licking my spoon instead.

Mari giggled a little. "I think everyone does things to personally annoy the Commander. He's a jerk."

She finally licked her finger, having to follow the trail of melted ice cream down to where it had flowed to her wrist. It was very sensual and made my pulse quicken. I felt the blood going to certain…regions and sighed very hard to disguise my effort to calm myself.

"Something wrong?" She asked, slightly confused.

I breathed deeply, grunted and flipped over onto my side to keep myself hidden lest I still be aroused. I flattened my ears as I stared into the folds of my sheets. "No, not really. Just thinking about how frustrating my brain is." That was truth.

Mari shifted on the bed, then got up. "Ok? Well, be careful of your ice cream so you don't knock it over, I'm going back downstairs."

She shut the door behind her, something I was grateful for. I jumped up from the bed and went straight to my windows, grabbing the curtains and flinging them wide open. The sky was ablaze with the sunset, the clouds were a flaming red like hot coals. It was beautiful, the red of the sky bled into a burnt orange, and then the gold of the sun as it dipped further and further below the horizon. Quite an impressive sight.

I opened the window to let in some air and I was hit by a blast of icy wind, the sky certainly did not imply that it was so cold outside. In fact you'd think the world was catching fire. I smelled water from the air and when I closed my eyes and focused, I could hear the promise of a storm in the wind. It was going to hail tonight, or snow. Either way, not the best weather for our terribly damaged city. I shook my head, eyes still closed. This was a horrible winter already.

I opened my eyes to see the sky turning purple as the sun kept setting and started to shut the window but something stopped it, like catching a corner of clothing in a drawer. I reopened the window and looked at the top, and then the bottom to see what was blocking it when I was suddenly thrown across the room with a crash. There was a crushing weight on my chest and I could barely choke in any air.

I opened my eyes to see what was on top of me, but saw nothing. The weight was suddenly gone and I heard a scuffle and snicker as the curtains flared and the window slammed shut.

* * *

AP: alright, I know I took forever to update and this chapter is shorter than the others, but here it is! Chapter 2 is now in existence XD I hope you're enjoying the story so far!


	4. Chapter 3

AP: hey, AngelicPuppy here with chapter three of Crimson Frost! It seems my story has fans, which makes me happy, though I fear they may kidnap me to do this chapter if I don't hurry up. So, without further ado, chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sonic, Shadow, or any other StH character, they are the property of SEGA. Mari, Karo and his alien race the Darraki, do however belong to me.

* * *

I had no idea what had just happened. What the hell had attacked me? I pulled myself off the floor just as the door swung open with Sonic, Amy and Mari behind it.

"What was that noise? Are you ok?" Sonic asked. He was clearly startled and nearly frantic.

I coughed a couple times before answering. "I'm fine; I'm not really sure what happened. Something attacked me, something I couldn't see."

"That doesn't really make sense. Couldn't see as in it was too dark or couldn't see as in it was invisible?" Mari asked, hands on her hips as her worried eyes surveyed the room.

Sonic went over to the window to see if he could find any sign of what had hit me. I shook my head, there was no use, if I couldn't see it he certainly couldn't.

"It was invisible. There's plenty of light and I have excellent night vision. If it was there to see I'd have seen it."

"Shadow's right, there's still plenty of light coming in the window. The sun isn't even below the horizon, there's no way he'd have not seen it." Sonic said, shaking his head.

"Did it hurt you?" Amy asked, coming over to rub my face.

"No, not really. I think we all know I'm tougher than that."

Sonic sighed heavily. "You attract some weird shit Shadow. Keep it up and I'm gonna have you exorcised."

I couldn't help but laugh at the thought, which was likely his point. "I think you'd end up banishing me to hell."

"Well at least it'd be quiet around here."

"Yeah, and much less interesting." Mari said, poking my ribs gently.

I fought a snicker; I was actually very ticklish so her poke was both unnerving and laugh inducing. But of course, the quick-witted Mari never missed anything; she squinted at me, curious and mischievous. I was about to get tickled.

"Don't do it Mari, he'll hate you forever." Sonic said, already starting to chuckle as I backed up slowly.

Mari started to giggle and she pounced on me, going straight for my sides. I couldn't help it, I burst into laughter as she somehow found all my most sensitive spots. She tickled me to the floor as I tried to push her away, but she was quick. Amy joined in, perfectly content to take advantage and they had me flailing and laughing.

Sonic was cracking up in the background and Amy freed me and attacked him too. He yelped as she tackled him and started to tickle him. I finally was able to get my arms around Mari and pulled her down on top of me so I could restrain her. She was laughing too.

"No fair! You're stronger than me, let me go!" She yelled through laughing as she tried to worm free of my bear hug. I didn't budge at all and managed to calm my laughing to a cough-filled chuckle.

I sat up with her still trapped in my grasp and laughing and looked over at Amy and Sonic who were calm and quiet now. It was nice to have a pleasant moment like this, though I hated being tickled. I turned back to Mari who was calming down now, but she still had a mischievous look in her eye.

"I'm not letting you go, I feel like you're just waiting for an opportunity to keep tickling me." I said to her.

She started giggling again, proving my point. She had a beautiful laugh and I suddenly had an urge to kiss her. I started to feel a nervous flutter in my chest, good grief that really happens in real life. I pressed my lips to hers gently, she was definitely startled, freezing for a moment before relaxing into me and kissing back. She pulled back after a couple seconds, giving me a strange, questioning look.

"Something tells me that never happened." I said, calm now. I let her go and she shook her head.

"That sounds about right, though I'm pretty sure our lines should be switched here." She poked her tongue out at me and left the room, dignity intact.

"Well you certainly never cease to make life interesting Shadow." Amy said, getting to her feet and pulling Sonic up too.

"I can imagine. Sonic, stay for a moment, we must talk."

Sonic watched Amy leave and stared at the door for a few moments before turning back to me.

"So, what was that about exactly?" He asked, curiosity spread over his face.

"I don't know, I'll figure it out eventually."

"You always do. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

"That, that _thing_ that attacked me. Whatever it was. And Hecate, her too."

"What about her? She show up in a dream again?"

I thought about how much to tell him, though that would be my undoing if I tried to hide anything. Hesitation always raised suspicion.

"She showed me a place with small children. Angels were watching over them, or that's what she said. I'm inclined to believe her, but I have no idea what she's up to."

A confused expression spread over Sonic's face. "What's the purpose of showing you that?"

I flattened my ears in annoyance, frowning deeply. If I knew the answer to that I wouldn't be asking anyone else and I told him so.

He looked over at the window, deep in thought. Eventually he started pacing, arms folded. I sighed in frustration, there was no fathoming a spirit's reasoning especially not one as powerful as Hecate.

"I can't really think of any reasons. I'm sure she's not an evil thing, but she certainly isn't being logical." I said quietly.

Sonic stopped pacing and chuckled. "Spirits don't need logic, they're spirits."

"Do you think what attacked me was a spirit?" I asked.

"You can see spirits though."

Sonic had a point there, though it was Knuckles who had a real talent for that.

"A demon maybe? But regardless, can't all spirits hide themselves?"

"I don't know. I'm not a spirit. Ask one is all I can think of."

I groaned, that was certainly an appealing prospect, interviewing a non-living thing. "I don't know what to do right now."

"Yeah, because I have all the answers." Sonic said, shaking his head.

"Come get dinner boys! And the others are back!" Amy yelled upstairs.

I shrugged, our conversation over for now, and headed downstairs. Sonic stayed, saying to tell Amy he wasn't hungry. I found myself ambushed at the bottom of the steps.

"Shadow! Cream and Karo had so much fun with Knuckles and Rouge! I can fly now!" Karo said excitedly as I tried to keep him from knocking me over.

Cream was giggling at Karo, halfheartedly pulling at his tail to make him back up.

"Calm down Karo, I can hear you just fine ya know." I said, patting him on the head.

"Hey Shadow." A tired voice said behind me.

I turned to see Tails, tired and downtrodden. I frowned, he looked better as far as sleeping went, but he seemed sad and disappointed.

"Hey Tails, what's wrong?"

He frowned at the floor. "Knuckles didn't teach me anything. We just sat on rocks all day. My ass hurts."

I was tempted to laugh at him, but his angry, disappointed expression was enough to pull at my heartstrings.

"Did you ask him why you sat on rocks all day?"

"He said we were going to meditate. I know how to meditate, but why all day? We could've spent time training, or going over co-op fighting strategies."

"Maybe it was because you were so angry yesterday. Besides, don't you know that quote, if you're so full of knowledge, how can I teach you anything?" Mari said.

"How do you know I was angry yesterday?" Tails asked suspiciously.

"Because I talk to people, I'm allowed to do that." Mari snapped back.

Knuckles stepped then. "Enough. If Tails doesn't understand why I had him do that, then that's his problem until he figures it out. It also means we'll be doing the same thing tomorrow."

"Oh come on!" Tails said in exasperation. "I already know how to meditate! What good is this doing? What if something happens?"

"I'd like to interject that we only get attacked every six months." Amy said from the kitchen.

Knuckles shook his head. "Just because you know how to do the action doesn't mean anything. Besides, _I_ meditate every day, regardless of whether I'm training or not. Clearly you're missing the point of meditation. And until you figure it out, that's what you'll be doing."

Tails clenched his fists and his jaw, looking very much like he wanted to throw a huge tantrum as his tails swished hard in agitation. But Knuckles didn't budge, he stared him down, not even crossing his arms. Knuckles knew what he was doing; Tails was used to being a child while having the intelligence and some responsibilities of being an adult, he was used to getting his way and being smart enough to figure things out and getting praise and respect for it. Now, he was faced with something he didn't know, and faced with a person far more patient and stubborn than he and who knew something he wanted to learn but wasn't getting at what he thought was the right pace. Now he was being forced to truly be an adult. Well, he asked for it.

Tails sighed in bitter frustration. "Fine." He said indignantly, and went to his lab, every step controlled so he wouldn't stomp like a toddler.

Knuckles faintly growled; his restraint was amazing at times. He shook his head, sighed and sat on the couch, flipping through tv channels absently. The room was silent for a while as we all looked at Knuckles and the basement door to Tails' lab. This wouldn't be an easy time at all. I sat down next to Mari on the other couch, with Cream and Karo following. She smiled gently at me, pulling at my ear. I smiled back, feeling like an idiot. She giggled.

"Shadow, make sure you teach him running form. He isn't very good at it." Knuckles said absently.

I nodded, looking back at the door to the lab. I'd need to talk to him. I sighed and got up to head downstairs, better now than never. Tails was sitting at his bench in the center of the basement, his head down next to some plants. When I came closer I saw he was staring rather dejectedly at them, and I sensed chaos coming from them. They weren't the plants we gave to Karo, his looked like houseplants, and these looked like the beginnings of tomatoes.

"Are those tomatoes?" I asked, sniffing one.

"Yeah, I'll have to move them to new pots soon." Tails said softly. It seemed like he wanted to cry.

I let my breath out slowly; kids just seemed to get in my brain. "Are you trying to make super plants?"

"Sorta, not really. Agriculture was really messed up by the invasion and people are starving. I figured maybe chaos plants can grow cheaper and provide energy to help people get healthy, like they do for Karo. I recently changed them so they can only breed with other chaos plants. I don't want them cross-pollinating with natural ones."

"Mhmm, do you think they could help for going back to natural plants?"

"It's possible. I'm testing their effects on growing in soil and what happens after they die. At the very least they don't need sun, but I'm not sure if they'll be able to go global."

"Why not?"

"They need Chaos Energy to live. What if they can't start a new crop without it? What if the dying plants don't put enough energy back into the soil for the new ones to grow? Or worse, what if the first crop dies because it's not close to the Emeralds? That would cause major problems, especially since there are only seven. Countries would fight over them and they would fight us too."

I rubbed Tails' head. "It'll be fine Tails, you'll figure it out. Besides, I'm pretty sure Chaos Energy is everywhere. What about that law in physics? It says an ordered system always progresses toward disorder, and the world is pretty chaotic now."

Tails frowned. "Yeah, but that's negative Chaos Energy. For plants, neutral energy is best to keep nutrients. Positive energy makes them grow really fast, but that's all it is, they don't have any substance and tend to die easily at the least sign of negativity and despair. Negative energy will barely get them off the ground, if they grow at all."

"Are we still talking about your plants or normal plants?"

Tails laughed, sitting up. "Both. Plants actually respond to energy. And you can see this in a lot of decorative plants. Decorative plants are very weak; it's why you have to be so careful to weed them, weeds are strong, they live wild and easily strangle pet plants."

I had to laugh then, who would ever think of plants as pets? But considering the care many people give to them, it was an appropriate thought. "So, why does that willow tree never get sick?"

"You love it, duh." Tails said laughing more as he started to move around his lab.

"So, my _appreciation_ for the tree helps it to grow? That would make sense except I often go sit under it when I'm upset or pissed."

"Well, the tree knows that. It appreciates that you go to it when you need relaxation, so it makes itself a protective haven. You in turn take care of it and appreciate it being there for you."

"Wow, who'd have ever pegged you for being the philosophical type?"

Tails chuckled and shook his head as he took measurements from a variety of screens connected to plants along the wall. "Well, when you live with people who believe in the supernatural, and are regularly exposed to it, it's very hard not to be."

"Heh, I guess so."

I watched him go about his lab for a few minutes in silence. It was interesting and yet boring at the same time. Tails sighed after watering a plant, clearly ready to talk about his training.

"What am I missing Shadow? Am I just being too impatient? Too childish?"

"Too impatient. You have to remember that strength isn't built in a day, just like a plant doesn't grow in a day. I know you want to be a part of what we do, but honestly we all just want you to be a kid. Unlike Amy, Mari or Rouge, however, Sonic, Knuckles and I will let you try your hand at adulthood and fighting because we respect your desire to grow even if we don't like how you're going about it. But you know Knuckles, he will make sure you see how hard it is, but it's because he cares. If you stay the course, he'll make you a great fighter."

"And what about you? What do you think?"

"I think you have a lot to learn about life. And I think that you should think about what Knuckles is teaching you."

Tails sighed. "Well, I figured it out, it's about being patient I guess. Though I'm not sure why it has to be on a rock, that really got to hurting after the first hour."

I had to laugh; I had once done the exercise with Knuckles. Sonic had a similar reaction to Tails while we were doing it too.

"You are correct in it being about patience. It's also about staying calm and steady under pressure, it's about focus. Tomorrow you'll likely find yourself meditating in a more comfortable place, then it will be about allowing yourself to rest while keeping alert."

Tails thought about it for a moment. "But why do it now? Why all day? I mean, it seems like we're using up a lot of time sitting around."

I sighed. "And you still don't get it, and I explained it to you. You do it now because it is necessary to have mental discipline. Without it you can't effectively train your body, and even if you can, you'll still be a terrible fighter. It's not a waste of time."

Tails shrugged; well at least he wasn't upset anymore. I shook my head and started up the stairs.

"Hey Shadow?"

"Yeah Tails?"

"I really am sorry about yesterday."

I shook my head, despite that he couldn't see me. "Don't worry about it, as often as I snap on everyone else I can't really get mad at you. Just be ready to train tomorrow. After meditating I'm gonna teach you about running."

"Sounds fun?"

All I did was laugh at him before going into the kitchen.

* * *

AP: Alright people, here's chapter 3!

Shadow: Finally

AP: Please R&R!


	5. Chapter 4

This would be an interesting morning. Everyone had decided to join Knuckles' meditation training for the day. I was sitting calmly and comfortably on the floor with Cream in my lap.

Tails was on the couch, "after all day on a rock, there's no way I'm sitting on the floor." He'd said earlier.

Mari and Amy seemed ok, they were both on the floor, but Sonic was fidgeting already and we hadn't even started. Rouge was sitting on the chair with Karo; the way she was holding him made him look like a stuffed animal. Knuckles paced as he waited for everyone to be ready and relaxed, and it was likely that he was nervous because he'd never bothered trying to teach so many people at once.

"Relax sweetheart, you're defeating your own purpose." Rouge said as she scratched Karo's belly. He cooed like a baby dinosaur.

Knuckles stopped, considered her comment for a moment, then went right back to pacing. "I am relaxed, just not about something else."

"What's wrong Red?" Sonic asked, shifting for the third time in ten seconds.

Knuckles shook his head. "Well for one thing how I'm gonna get you to sit still without punching you in the face."

Sonic rubbed his jaw as if he could feel it already, shrugged, and repeated his question. Knuckles shook his head and waved him off, insisting it was nothing. He sat on the floor in the middle of the living room and took several deep breaths before speaking to everyone.

"Alright, well I didn't plan to be doing all this. Honestly I figured it would just be Tails, Shadow and myself, but what the hell. First things first, be comfortable in your sitting position. Meditation isn't about suffering or forcing yourself to sit super still in some weird position. And, don't get upset if you can't stop thinking. It's likely we'll all still be thinking, just try not to get hung up on thinking or not thinking. It's about relaxing and clarity."

"So, if we can get our minds quiet then yay us, but if not, good try?" Mari asked.

"Essentially. Get up if you need to, just try and be quiet and not disturb anyone else."

"Should I get up Shadow?" Cream asked looking up at me.

I shook my head; her sitting in my lap wouldn't bother me, not if I could ignore Sonic, besides she was pretty good at sitting still for a little kid. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply, shutting out the sound of Knuckles instructing the others in breathing and clearing the mind. I was pretty good at meditating, but I never did it that much, I still don't know why, it just never occurred to me to do it.

"Shadow, why are we doing this? I'm sure there's an easier way to be calm?" A loud, childish voice said.

I opened my eyes wide, startled at the voice. Everyone else had their eyes closed, even Cream, though Knuckles was looking at me with an eyebrow raised. I shrugged slightly so as not to disturb Cream, who looked like she was concentrating. Knuckles shook his head before closing his eyes. He seemed stressed, but about what?

I closed my eyes again, trying to regain my calm and focus.

"Shadow! Come on, why do we have to sit here? I'm so bored!"

That voice again. It sounded familiar somehow but I couldn't place it. It reminded me of Tails. I felt a tap on my head and looked up; Tails had a questioning look on his face. I shrugged, no clue what was up or why he tapped me. I also noticed Sonic fidgeting, much to my annoyance.

"It's so hard to sit. I hate sitting like this."

That was definitely Sonic's voice in my head this time. I never had the talent for mind-reading, so why could I hear them now? I looked down at Cream; she looked like she was concentrating very hard. Was it her? It would make sense, this was the age those abilities started showing up anyway. The real question was, why could I hear it?

_Oh that's easy Shadow darling, you can feel others' energy, that's how you sense me and other spirits._ I groaned. Hecate would pick this moment to mess with me.

I heard her laughter in my head and the barest brush against my quills. I shivered; it was always weird being touched by a spirit. _She's concentrating so hard because she is starting to be able to hear thoughts. You can hear them because you're very tuned to her energy. It's quite cute; you're like her big brother._

"Shadow?" Cream whispered, looking up at me. "Who is the lady?"

I pat Cream on the head before getting up with her in my arms. My life just couldn't get simpler could it? We went outside to the backyard and sat on her swing set. It was pretty mild today, not too cold which was good. The last thing we needed was Cream getting a cold.

"You ok Shadow?"

"The answer is always the same Cream."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I noticed Cream was looking at me. She was so cute and sweet, her innocence was refreshing. I sighed, ignoring the ghostly giggling of Hecate. What was so funny about this?

"About what Shadow?"

I sighed, of course she'd hear that.

"So who is the lady? I heard her talking to you in your head. Am I the only one who can do that?"

"She's an angel and yes, you're the only one who can hear thoughts. Can you see her?"

Cream shook her head. "I only heard her because she was in your head. I know you can hear ghosts and stuff though."

"Yeah, but apparently I can hear thoughts if you're with me."

"Really? That's weird."

I laughed, "I think we both know I'm hardly normal. Our whole family is weird; it seems to have infected you too."

Cream giggled. "But I like our family. I always wondered if I would get something weird too. Like Tails is super smart, and you and Knuckles can talk to ghosts. Karo is an alien, Sonic is funny and stuff. I always wondered if I would be special too."

"Well you got your wish, now you've got something special and no one else can do it. Now you're just as weird as the rest of us."

I felt my quills ruffle and looked up to see Hecate's ghostly figure. _Haha, you'll make a great father one day Shadow._

I grimaced at the thought. Cream was fine; she was old enough to understand to some degree what my personality required. The thought of a baby or a toddler screaming wasn't really pleasing. Then a thought came to me. _Hecate, if you're trying to get my soul, why do you care if I'll make a great father?_

_I don't think that's wise to ask with a telepath in your lap._

I slapped myself on the forehead, not bothering to look at Cream's extremely confused face. Trying to remember her new ability would be a chore. I was so used to her presence and lack of skills that I would likely scar her. Hecate was laughing gleefully and faded away, probably to collect souls. Twisted bitch.

"Shadow! That's a bad word!"

I groaned in frustration, sitting her on the other swing. "What exactly did you hear Cream?"

"You called the lady a bad word, and I heard something about babies."

I shook my head; at least she hadn't heard everything. I suddenly wondered what Karo would have as his ability, and if Cream would get more than one. Before I could get further in that thought, a sudden gust slammed both Cream and myself out of the swings. Something crashed into the house and I felt like a rock had landed on my back. Cream was screaming and the others were scrambling and shouting in the house.

I couldn't move, whatever was on me started pressing my face into the dirt. It smelled like burning paper and was giggling. Its energy felt wrong, it was aggravating, like it wanted me to be angry. That wasn't hard since I was fighting not to snort dirt. Suddenly it snarled and pushed off me, slashing my back.

"AAH, son of a big, fat, BITCH!" I screamed. It burned like lemon juice on a giant papercut.

"Shadow!" Cream ran over to me, tears streaming down her face.

I waved her away, my whole body was shaking with pain and rage. Damn demon. A light clicked on when I thought it, that thing _was_ a demon. Why had it run away though? The others were coming out of the house, Cream ran over to tell Rouge and Amy what happened while Sonic and Mari came to check on me. Knuckles was staring at something behind me, I was hurting too much to try and look.

"What the hell Shadow? Didn't I tell you stop bringin weird shit home?" Sonic said. Even though he was trying to joke, it was clear that he was frantic.

"Oh fuck you Sonic. I can't stop bugs from following me in."

"Seriously, you two can harass each other right now?" Mari said, parting my quills carefully to get a good look at my wound.

"It's how we cope at this point." Sonic said as he offered his hand.

Mari slapped it away. "What are you doing? He needs to be treated, don't just pull him up like all he did was scrape a knee or something!"

Sonic gave her a nasty look, but said nothing and she wiped down my wounds as gently as possible with a wet cloth. It hurt like hell, but I managed not to do more than growl and claw the dirt.

"They're shallow at least, so you won't need stitches, but damn Shadow, how do you always land in this mess?" Mari asked as she bandaged me up.

"Gee I don't know Mari, I screwed up in a past life perhaps?"

"Unless you were Hitler no one deserves the sort of karma you seem to be getting Shadow." Sonic said.

"What I wanna know is what made them run?" Rouge said. She was holding Cream who was still crying.

"Hecate did." Knuckles said matter-of-factly.

"Wouldn't that defeat the purpose?" Sonic asked.

Knuckles and I gave him a curious look. "Why would you think that?" He asked.

"I dunno, doesn't she have helpers? It is a big job after all."

"Yes, but why would they attack me? Or anyone else for that matter? She has a schedule, she can't kill people before their schedule." I said. Trying to sit up was a literal pain, but I wasn't going to lay in the dirt.

Sonic thought about it for a moment before shrugging. "I guess that's true. But why would she save us? She doesn't have to intervene."

Hecate's voice floated into my mind. _Just because I want your soul doesn't mean I'm going to let you die before you should. The angel of death does more than collect souls. _

"Well, just because she wants me doesn't mean she's just gonna let me die when I'm not supposed to. Wouldn't that explain how so many miracle survivals happen?"

Knuckles glared at me, or it seemed like he was. I couldn't always feel a spirit's presence; it was possible Hecate was behind me. I would have to ask him about that later. I shook my head, first aliens now spirits. I couldn't have a normal problem could I? I suddenly wished I was like everyone else, with only tax problems and rebuilding to work through. I held out my hand to Sonic, silently asking for help getting to my feet. He pulled me up hard and I sensed he was annoyed. I'd have to ask about that too.

The kitchen was a wreck. The table was overturned, broken dishes were everywhere and two of the cabinets were torn down. We didn't need this mayhem. Tails and Karo were cleaning the livingroom, the couches had tears in them, the coffee table was broken and the tv seemed to barely escape serious injury. Both of the boys were scratched up.

I heard Knuckles sigh behind me and Amy was already getting into cleaning mode. Rouge was cooing to Cream who had evidently gotten upset again. Not a single person was even upset, besides Cream, so used to destruction and cleanup were we. There was something sad about how calm and efficient we all were in cleaning up after violence. I sighed and went upstairs, no one blinked twice.

It was two hours before anyone came to check on me. Mari came in first to check on me and she changed my bandages in silence. I sensed that she had a lot to say and a lot of questions, but she kept quiet. She was upset and scared and probably startled by the lack of reaction to the recent mayhem by the rest of the house. I managed not to tell her to "get used to it or get out" because that would have been cruel. I could practically hear Eggman saying I've come a long way to softness.

Knuckles came in next. That was an exercise in patience, because he sat quietly for at least twenty minutes. But typical Knuckles, when he spoke he pulled no punches.

"I hate her."

"What?"

"Hecate. I hate her."

"Oh, why?"

"She told me some things, about my people and about the city. I don't know why. She disturbs me and I feel like she's going to be using us."

I managed to sit up without too much pain and faced him. "Was that what you were pacing about earlier?"

"Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"I had a dream last night. I saw the city burning, people running and screaming. Killing each other, dying from strange diseases. I woke up feeling absolutely sure that was a premonition. I got up to pray…."

"You pray?" I asked, unable to resist interrupting. It was such an incredulous thought.

Knuckles glared at me. "You believe in God don't you?"

I flattened my ears. "I guess."

"You guess? Really? You see and feel and hear spirits and angels, get attacked by demons, survive all these ridiculous circumstances and you guess." Knuckles shook his head and laughed tiredly. "Well, I suppose everything's possible. And yeah, I pray. I had to talk to somebody all those years on that forsaken island with those damn rocks."

"I thought you liked being alone?"

"I _hate_ being alone. Why do you think I was so noisy and destructive when I was younger? Or so damn gullible? I'm up there because it's my duty and for a while I was all about honor and duty to the job and that was all that mattered. Now that isn't the case anymore."

"So, what is the case then?"

Knuckles looked at me seriously. "Well, now the case is that I need to protect my family. Especially because Rouge is pregnant."

I grinned, I couldn't help it, but I burst into laughter. The idea of gruff old Knuckles cooing at an infant was too much. It was such an absurd idea, as absurd as me rocking a baby to sleep, and yet it was probably the only idea that had made me feel happy all day. I still couldn't see myself as a father, but I could certainly be an uncle.

Knuckles clocked me in the jaw, irritated that I was laughing when he was trying to be serious. I managed to suppress my laughter to chuckling and giggling and I rubbed my jaw as he continued talking.

"Anyway, we need to discuss a plan of action. I don't want to move all of you to the Island, but I don't want any of you to stay here. It's dangerous. And Hecate is twisted in the head, she pivots back and forth between being a sadistic soul sucker and a caring woman. She's going to get you hurt."

I scratched my head as I calmed down from laughing. My back was hurting. "Well, there's not much we can do. Even if we all go to Angel Island we could still have problems. For instance, what if the government tries to seize the Island?"

Knuckles crossed his arms, his demeanor shifting from merely annoyed to hardened warrior. That glare and offensive posture meant the government had indeed tried, and failed and they'd be hard pressed to try again. I shook my head, it was a valid question, but there was no point trying to go to the Island. Knuckles and Rouge lived in the temple on the Island, but they were better suited for it. The temple was huge and empty, everything echoed, and it was always terribly silent. Even the least psychic person would feel the sadness and loneliness of the place.

"How do you and Rouge live there?" I asked incredulously.

"Pardon?" Knuckles said, relaxing again.

"How do you live in the Island temple?"

Knuckles furrowed his brow in confusion. "We don't. As soon as she moved there I built a house near the Shrine. We stayed in the Chaos Temple one night and she said 'Knuckles, I don't care where we go. I will sleep in a tree, but I will _not_ sleep in that place again.' So I built a house instead and Tails set up some solar panels and a couple windmills, a phone tower, and a water mill. The government pays us to keep the phone tower going, Tails put up more after that."

"Why do they pay you for the towers?"

"Something about the higher a tower the more coverage it gives people. Anyway, we don't live in the temple."

"Well how did you do it before Rouge came along?"

Knuckles shrugged and went to the window. He opened it wide and a cold draft blew in. I shuddered, which made me wince in pain from the scratches on my back. For a while Knuckles stared out the window, reminiscing. I waited patiently; I hated being interrupted in a reverie, so did he.

"I always told myself that they'd come back." Knuckles said.

I waited for him to continue.

"Most of the time I slept outside with the Emeralds. But whenever I had to be inside, I always told myself they would come back. It worked when I was young, but at a certain point I had to tell myself they _weren't_ coming back. As I got older and my abilities got stronger, I would hear voices and see shadows."

I crossed my arms and stared at the floor. "I understand that pain. When the government had me locked in stasis for fifty years I would dream of Maria and the raid on the ARK, only to wake up and find that I couldn't remember what I had dreamt about. I couldn't remember anything, but the ghosts haunted me nonetheless."

Knuckles chuckled, "Who'd have thought we'd ever be kindred souls eh Shadow?"

"Heh, yeah, who'd have thought."


	6. Chapter 5

AP: So I know the last chapter didn't have an intro, and it was a bit emotional. If you haven't noticed by now our fave Sega characters are a bit OOC. Well, in all honesty I think it's good for them to mature. It's ridiculous for them to remain childish and so bright and cheery with things nuts around them. And lots of things go nuts, in the games and comics. Nonetheless, I hope you're enjoying Crimson Frost. The violence is coming soon

Disclaimer: Shadow, Sonic, and crew belong to SEGA. Karo, his alien race the Darraki, and Mari belong to me.

* * *

The rest of the morning was uneventful, everyone even managed to eat something. Tails, Cream, and Karo were cheerful and talkative. Karo was telling them about his planet and the sorts of spirits there. Sonic was having fun teasing Knuckles and Amy and Rouge were talking calmly about Angel Island. The only one who wasn't sharing in the cheery peace was Mari. She seemed sad and barely ate.

I reached across the table to touch her hand and she jumped, startled. I smiled gently at her and she stared like I had six eyes. I rubbed her fingers and stuck my tongue at her. She giggled and relaxed, pushing at her food with her fork. She still looked sad.

"How's your back feeling Shadow?" Tails asked, eyeing my hand on Mari's with a smirk.

"It's fine, not as sore."

"It's only been a few hours." Mari said. "Well, that makes sense I guess. You woke up from a coma in a week after that fat lizard invaded."

"He healed from a broken back in a day; I think some shallow scratches would be nothing." Sonic chimed in.

"Oh yea, I remember that." She gave me an apologetic look. She'd been mean to me back then.

I shrugged, it wasn't really a problem anymore. I still hadn't completely recovered my health from that battle, which is why it took hours to heal the cuts. I didn't have the desire or the energy to hold any grudges. Mari tugged at my fingers in concern.

"One thing you'll have to get used to with Shadow is he stares into space a lot." Tails said.

"Shadow thinks enough for everybody!" Karo shouted happily.

I nudged him with my foot. "How have your flying lessons been Karo?"

"Rouge is slow cuz she's getting full of eggs!"

"Umm, mammals don't lay eggs Karo." Rouge said as she tried not to laugh.

"Wait, what? Rouge, are you pregnant?" Mari asked incredulous.

Rouge giggled. "Yes I am."

"Oh wow really? That's wonderful!" Amy said, hugging her.

Sonic and Tails snickered, likely thinking of how silly Knuckles would seem playing with an infant. Knuckles simply folded his arms and smirked before focusing back on Rouge.

"Rouge, you're gonna have a baby?" Cream asked. She laughed, "I'm gonna be a big sister!"

"Haha, Knuckles is gonna be a dad. I can't wait to see him change a diaper." Sonic said.

"I can change a diaper." Tails said loudly.

"Good, you're on diaper duty then." Knuckles said.

"Oh damn." Tails laughed.

"Don't worry Tails, I'll help you." Mari said cheerfully.

I chuckled, it was nice to have a happy moment like this. We would still have to repair the cabinets and window, but at least the rest of the house was fine. Well, except some of the furniture, but at least the tv was alright.

"Hey, I'm gonna go take a nap everyone." Mari said, getting up from the table. I couldn't keep a frown off my face as she let go of my hand.

Once she was upstairs the teasing started.

"Oooh, Shadow's getting sweet on Mari." Sonic snickered.

"Sweet on? What does that mean?" Karo asked.

Tails smiled mischievously. "It means he's starting to find her yummy."

Karo thought about that for a moment, then got an excited look. "So like mating! Does Shadow want to make eggs with Mari?"

Everyone died of laughter at that. I put my head down on the table to hide my blush, ignoring the teasing and ear tugging of the others. Even Cream was giggling! I stood up and quickly marched out to try and preserve my dignity. It didn't work very well because the hooting and teasing followed me out. I couldn't help but chuckle on my way up the steps; their jokes were a bit funny, though Karo's comments were the best.

I heard some sniffling through Cream's bedroom door; well I guess Mari had to sleep somewhere. I crept close, flicking my ear towards it. The number one reason people get caught eavesdropping is from leaning against the door, because it makes noise as you press it against the jamb. Lucky for me I have animal ears and animal hearing. Mari was sniffling and muttering in English, something about how could they be like that.

I knocked softly on the door and she sniffled hard before telling me to come in. Her eyes were red and puffy and the soft fur on her face was disheveled from wiping her face. I chuckled a little before sitting next to her on the spare bed. Cream's room was pink and yellow with stuffed animals everywhere. On her bed was a gray teddy bear that I had bought her. She had named him Corey to go with a tan bear she owned named Cooper. Cooper, interestingly enough, was on Mari's bed.

"I see you have Cooper." I said, poking the fuzzy bear on the nose.

Mari laughed a little. "Yeah, Cream said Cooper wanted to spend time with me. Something about missing America and hanging out with other Americans."

"He's from Wisconsin. I have no idea why Cream picked Wisconsin, but that's where he's from. He came here for business, then decided to stay. His cousin Corey, that's the gray bear, came to live with him. He hopes to find love. Or that's what Cream told me anyway."

Mari laughed at that. "Love huh? That's an interesting reason to come to another country. Cream told me you bought her both bears."

"I don't remember buying Cooper; it's possible I bought both bears. Where are you from Mari?"

"Me? I'm from Pennsylvania, but I lived in one of the large cities so Cooper and I have a lot to talk about. Though I must say, Philadelphia pales in comparison to Tokyo."

"I've heard of Philadelphia, never been there. Knuckles says it's nice."

"Knuckles has been to Philadelphia?" Mari asked incredulously.

"Knuckles has been all over the world. Angel Island only spends most of its time over Japan because all seven Chaos Emeralds are here, but a few months out of the year it floats to the other continents. Besides, Rouge loves traveling, so even when the Island stays over Japan for an entire year they go to other places."

Mari thought for a moment. "The Chaos Emeralds, those are the glowing gems you used to get all silver and powerful?"

"Yes, though normally I only turn gold. With the Chaos Emeralds I can go super. Sonic also turns gold when he's super. I've never seen Knuckles super."

"Right, right, you three went hyper or something when you were fighting the aliens right?"

"That's right. In order to go hyper we had to power the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald to make them Super Emeralds."

"How can you do that anyway?"

"Go hyper?"

"Use the Emeralds. I mean, no one else can do it, why can you three? Seems kinda unfair that you three get to be superheroes."

I chuckled. "It's not like it's all that fun being superheroes. Well, Knuckles is descended from a race that has guarded the Emeralds and Master Emerald for millennia. It's in their bloodline to be able to access the power in them. I'm not sure about Sonic; it has something to do with why he has blue fur. As far as I go, well I'm genetically engineered to utilize Chaos Energy. I'm hand-made to use the Emeralds."

"Handmade?"

"Yes, I was not born naturally. I'm technically speaking almost 62 years old."

Mari made a silly face at me. "Eww, you're an old man."

I laughed. "Yes I'm an old man."

"I didn't know people could actually _make_ a person like that."

"Well, I was the product of a long line of failures and research."

"Wow, I can't imagine what that would be like. So technically you don't have parents?"

I frowned, technically I had a father, Black Doom of the Black Arms. He was dead, killed by my own hands after the invasion five years ago. "Well, technically I have a father, but he's dead."

"What happened to him?"

"He died."

Mari frowned, swatting me on the arm. "Well I realized that when you said _he's dead_, I meant _how_."

"Just leave it alone. My life before this house is not filled with pleasant memories." I said shaking my head.

"Was your life really that terrible?"

"I've witnessed a lot of death, not really one to remember it if I don't have to."

"That's right; you have nightmares about those things." Mari said, reaching over to gently scratch my ear.

I grabbed her hand and rubbed her fingers. It felt nice to have her scratch my ear, but there was pity in her voice and expression and that spoiled it since I hated pity. "So, what had you upset before I came in?"

Mari frowned and looked at the floor. "Oh, well I was just upset about this morning. You all are just so _calm_ about the violence. It's disturbing, I don't understand it. I mean, you had gashes big enough to need medical attention and Sonic was just gonna pull you up like you'd scraped a knee or something!"

I rubbed her hand and sighed. "Calm down. I know it's…abnormal, but well, we've had a lot of things happen to us. We try not to be like that, but it's hard. There's only so many ways to cope ya know. Tails is learning that, that's why he's trying to learn how to fight. He can't cope on the sidelines anymore."

Mari sighed and looked up at me with her pretty emerald eyes. She really was worried and who would blame her with the way we were acting? Even Cream was back to normal now having calmed down after I took my nap after the demons had attacked. I flattened my ears, looking up at the ceiling. There wasn't much of a way to explain our family.

"As much as I hate to say this to you, that's just the way our family is. You either have to take it or leave it. We're not normal, get used to it."

"I think that's gonna be hard. I'm used to normal people, you all are pretty far from that. I mean, Rouge is pregnant with _Knuckles'_ baby. I keep trying to imagine what that child will look like, it's not working."

I thought about it for a moment and my ears went back as I realized she was right. That was an exceedingly weird thought. Another thought popped into my head, what if Amy was pregnant? I could imagine a little brown hedgehog, as intelligent and well-spoken as Amy, as nosy and adventurous as Sonic, and probably just as annoying. In theory Rouge 's child could look like her or Knuckles, a red bat perhaps?

I grunted as Mari yanked hard on my ear. "Earth to Shadow, come in Shadow. What are you thinking about?"

"Isn't there a less bothersome way for you to get my attention instead of inflicting bodily harm? And, I'm thinking about children."

"Children? I'm hoping you're referring to Knuckles and Rouge."

I gave her a curious look. "Who else?"

"I dunno, just seemed weird. You're distant with kids, though they seem to see the niceness in you. I guess I could imagine you as a father."

I blanched at the thought, diapers were not something I looked forward to. And I hated crying, it freaked me out. "I don't like crying babies."

Mari laughed, "no one likes crying babies."

I shook my head. "No, it's because it means something is wrong and that's all babies can do. It freaks me out, what if something serious is wrong and I can't figure it out? It's unnerving."

"Aww, Shadow's a softie on the inside." Mari teased, ruffling my ears.

I grunted in annoyance. It was like Knuckles and I had teasing targets on our backs. Probably because we were often so serious. I breathed deeply, feeling a little tired all of a sudden. Mari gave me a concerned expression, noticing the change in my demeanor. I flopped back on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Cream had flowers on her ceiling, light blue and purple and grass green to go with the pink and yellow stripes on the walls. I thought I could sleep in here despite the brightness, if only because it was a simple and comforting room as it should be for a young child like Cream.

"Is something wrong?"

"No. I could sleep though."

"So go to sleep?"

"It's not my room."

Mari leaned over me. "I highly doubt Cream would mind you sleeping in here."

I shrugged, trying not to think about how pretty she was or how close she was. She smelled delightful, like a lily. It occurred to me that I was attracted to her; the feeling was similar to when I first became friends with Rouge. She gave me an odd, slightly nervous look, then hit me and turned away, blushing.

"Quit _looking_ at me like that. Geez, you'd think you've never seen a girl before."

"I haven't." I said, picking in my ear.

"Huh?"

"I haven't, seen a girl like that. I don't get out much, not that many girls would take on a project like me."

Mari turned fully towards me. "You're telling me, you've _never_ been on a date?"

I shook my head.

"Never seen a girl naked?"

Another shake.

"Well I guess that rules out sex too."

"I've never had sex in my life."

"What?" Mari seemed truly shocked by that, which was both amusing and curious. Then again, Americans have weird, contradictory opinions on sex.

"I've never had sex in my life. And in case you plan on mentioning my age, I was essentially in a coma for fifty years."

"You've really never had sex."

"I've really never had sex."

"Wow, Shadow's a virgin." Mari said with a curious reverence, like I was a strange and rare artifact.

"Why is that so special?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Well you're handsome and you're famous and you're strong. You're fast and I've learned that the Japanese value introversion, unlike the West which prefers noisy people like me and Sonic. Girls should be all over you since you're the only one not taken."

"You do realize that I don't put myself in the spotlight right? Also, for a good while before the Black Arms invasion I was seen as a bad guy."

"Yeah but who doesn't love a sexy villain? And then you became a good guy anyway! If I was a fangirl I'd totally jump you!" Mari said excitedly.

I couldn't help the expression I gave her, which was a mixture of surprise, amusement, and confusion. She realized what she said and turned bright pink, the effect of a blush under her white fur.

"Um, w-well, come on there's no reason you should still be a virgin Shadow!" She said indignantly, hands on her hips. "You have to stop being so angsty, how else do you expect to get a girlfriend?"

"I have to what?" I asked. She'd said angsty in English, which threw the entire sentence off. Since I'd never heard that English word before I had to ask.

"Stop being…what is the Japanese word for angst?"

"If I knew, I'd have corrected you, instead of asking what you said. Ask Amy, she probably knows. Actually, ask Sonic. He loves learning insults in other languages."

"Ok, I'll have to ask later then."

"So, about this supposed requirement to lose my virginity?"

Mari burned pink again, failing to keep her composure. "Come on, you're a grown man, you should have gotten _something_."

"Something?" I asked, enjoying her reaction. I knew full well what she meant and that she was referring to any sexual experience a person could have, but I'd been told that Americans had funny reactions to discussions about sex and to see one was very amusing. True, in Japan we're reserved about public conversations about sex, but this embarrassment from Mari was hilarious.

"Now you're just messing with me, I can see you smirking!" Mari shouted.

"Stop screaming, they'll be wondering what we're doing up here."

Mari glared at me and crossed her arms like a little kid. "Stop messing with me."

I chuckled. "You opened this door yourself, idiot. So, what sort of something should I have experienced by now as a grown man?"

"Don't call me names!"

"Stop stalling."

Mari stuck her tongue out at me and flopped back on the other half of the bed. I rolled my eyes and sat up so I could see her face. "You didn't seriously think that would keep me from picking on you?"

"Oh shut up ya old fart."

I grinned at her. "An old fart that's still waiting on your detailed explanation of what I should know about sex."

She squealed dramatically, jumping up and fleeing the room. I couldn't help but laugh as she loudly announced to everyone downstairs that I was mean and she hated me. Now I saw why Sonic picked on me all the time, it was hilarious. Mari would likely hate me forever over that, but she did start it and it was perfect payback for her tickling me the other day. I lay back down on her bed, still chuckling and grabbed Cooper. I wondered if he'd have been more or less embarrassed by that conversation if he'd been a real bear from Wisconsin.

I put the bear over my face to block the light from the room. Cooper smelled delightfully like Mari; she must hug him every night. I couldn't help taking a deep whiff and letting out a content sigh. Now I understood why Knuckles would stealthily (and sometimes very obviously) smell Rouge. Girls smelled good.

"Oh yeah cuz _that's_ not perverted." Tails' voice said from the hallway.

I'd forgotten the door was open, all with one sniff. It hadn't even been two minutes since Mari fled my teasing and I was totally absorbed in the smell of the bear she slept with. I chuckled, Tails was right, it was perverted. But I didn't care, she smelled good.

A thought came to mind just then. "Hey Tails?"

Tails came back to the doorway. "Yeah?"

"Do you think it's weird I've never had sex?"

"Yup."

"Well you've certainly learned the art of purposeful bluntness."

"Not sure what you expected me to say. It is weird, but I also don't care that much, it's your business. If it makes you feel better, I've never had sex either."

I flattened my ears in annoyance. "You're thirteen, how is that supposed to make me feel better."

Tails grinned. "Yeah that was the point, kinda dumb to ask a thirteen year old something like that huh?"

"Oh shush, I liked you better when you thought the world was roses and daisies and planes."

"What the fuck? Roses and daisies? Seriously?"

"Don't curse."

"Even Amy curses."

"So?"

Tails shrugged. "Just testing the waters, I figured since I'm thirteen now I should be all teenager-y and stuff."

"Congratulations, you're annoying. Next step, porn and masturbation and you'll be well on your way to being a poorly adjusted member of society."

"What on earth are you two talking about?" Amy asked as she came up the steps.

"Shadow was just telling me about my next steps to achieving full teenage status. Although I'm not sure how he knows it since he doesn't watch tv."

"I was a teenager once." I said, folding my arms.

Tails stuck his tongue out at me. "Yeah, before there was tv."

"There was tv, it was just hard getting it to work with all the dinosaurs in the way."

Tails snickered and walked away, clearly thinking of some other statement that would probably get him smacked.

"Wise choice young panawan." I shouted after him.

Amy shook her head. "Well it's nice to see you two getting along again."

"It's interesting, just two months ago I looked at him and saw a little kid. Then his balls dropped and he's like Sonic."

Amy choked on her laughter, shaking her head at me. "Stop bein' bad. Good grief, we get attacked by demons and Tails' balls drop and your happiness finally shows up. You two throw everything off don't ya?"

"Hey, I'm Shadow the Hedgehog, I've been throwin' shit off since I was created."

"Mhmm, well you do something with yourself instead of picking on people. Isn't it terrible enough I'm being double teamed by Sonic _and_ Tails? I will lose my mind surrounded by all you funky boys."

I discreetly sniffed myself, had I showered today? I honestly couldn't remember, but I shrugged and got up. Might as well take one now. "I'm going to get in the shower, and then take another nap."

"You're like a turtle since that battle Shadow." Amy said, mild concern coming through her teasing.

I didn't answer her, but instead looked at Cooper laying on Mari's bed. Amy wasn't stupid; she had to know I still wasn't fully recovered from the battle with Clarostra. I had nearly pushed out some of my life force in that battle to try and destroy the massive dragon, better my life than my family, but it was a hard toll on even my body and I was made to be nearly indestructible.

"Shadow?" Amy placed her hand on my shoulder. "You'll be alright, you know that right?"

I shrugged. "No, I don't know that. But I guess we'll see won't we?"

* * *

AP: Well, here's Chapter 5 everyone! This one ended up being more humorous than I expected, but that's the nature of writing, sometimes the story goes where it wants! I hope everyone enjoyed it!


End file.
